Henriette Ronner-knip – Still Life With Brass Instruments – Oil On Canvas

Still life depicting four objects placed on the ground. Two copper vessels are positioned in the center, their light reflecting off the metal. On either side are two wooden and metal containers. The background consists of a wall with climbing vegetation. The entire composition is rendered in shades of brown.
The work represents a technical achievement in its realism and the rendering of light on the objects.

The painting is clean and in very good condition. It bears a barely visible trace of a signature in the lower left corner. The work comes from an auction, confirming the artist's identity; the sales certificate is available upon request.

This painting is presented in a large 19th-century frame, also in very good condition.

The artist
Henriette Ronner-Knip, was a Dutch painter, best known for her scenes of domestic animals, particularly cats, which she depicted with a rare blend of naturalistic precision and sentimental tenderness.

Born in Amsterdam into a family of artists—her father, Joseph August Knip, was her first teacher—she developed a solid craft early on, based on rigorous drawing and mastery of composition.
While her fame rests primarily on her paintings of cats and dogs, it is important to note that she explored other subjects early in her career: landscapes, bourgeois interiors, and still lifes, such as the one we are presenting here. These lesser-known works demonstrate a pronounced taste for intimate settings, soft light, and muted color harmonies. The influence of the 17th-century Dutch tradition is evident in the meticulous rendering of textures and the subtle interplay of light and shadow. Her style is distinguished by careful realism, a keen sense of composition, and a bright palette dominated by warm tones and golden light. In her non-animal works, she cultivated a quiet intimacy, a poetry of the everyday akin to the domestic sentiment that would later permeate her feline scenes.

During her lifetime, Henriette Ronner-Knip enjoyed great popularity, particularly in Belgium, where she settled in 1850. She received several awards, exhibited regularly at the Salons of Brussels, Ghent, Paris, and London, and her works were reproduced as lithographs and illustrated cards. In 1876, she was awarded the Order of Leopold in Belgium, a rare honor for a female artist at the time.

Today, critics tend to reassess her work beyond mere animal painting. Her interior scenes and early compositions are recognized for their remarkable technical skill and their feminine vision of everyday life, placing Ronner-Knip in a lineage of artists who have successfully combined academic virtuosity with intimate sensitivity. Although still associated with her cats—which have become almost emblematic of 19th-century bourgeois art—she is now studied as an important figure in Dutch and Belgian painting of the period, particularly within the broader context of the visibility of women artists in the 19th century.

His work is mainly found in private collections, but is also featured in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Gallery in London. Her works have been offered at public auction on numerous occasions.

Artwork on display at the gallery (07240).
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